A Few East Village Eats: Xe May, Puddin', and Big Gay Ice Cream Shop

(This is one of those sad times I forgot my digital camera, but hopefully my personality and eloquent words will help you forget that you are looking at lame cell phone images.)

Sometimes I crave a good sandwich.  It's not often, but when I do, I just want to sink my Chiclet-sized chompers into a toasted french baguette filled with grilled pork.  In other words - a banh mi !

Xe May opened early this year, on the Japanese-centric neighborhood of St. Mark's, and the shop still has that slick, new store smell.

The menu is simple, with a variety of banh mi options including a vegetarian rendition with glazed portobello and cauliflower spread, and others featuring all the key meat characters: curried lamb with coconut, lemongrass chicken, grilled pork (aptly dubbed 'The Hog'), and of course, the traditional, classic banh mi with headcheese and other coldcuts. 

In addition to banh mis, you can also opt for tacos which use similar fillings as the banh mi, with added options of grilled meatballs and beefsteak.

Jamie and her beau shared a couple tacos and proclaimed them delicious.

The trio also opted for the Super Club Classic, the traditional banh mi with bbq pork and headcheese.

The sandwiches were beautifully layered.  The group nodded agreeably as they munched on the sandwiches.  "You can taste the pate!" said Thanan.  Pate is such a beautiful thing.

I pigged out on The Hog, jammed with plenty of lean, grilled pork, and fresh, lightly pickled carrots and cucumbers.

What's particularly nice about this sandwich is that either they hull out the bread, or the bread interior itself is minimal.  It's a perfect balance of filling to bread ratio, with a solid crispy exterior that doesn't cut up your mouth.  The pork was nicely marinated, not dry, benefiting from the healthy douse of spicy mayo, and was altogether satisfying, especially washed down with a cup of their tasty Vietnamese coffee.

I can't wait to go back to try the classic, ask for extra pate, and fill up my punch card so they can feature it on their wall of superfan fame!  

We then stopped in next door to Puddin'.  The shop specializes in pudding parfaits, with a variety of pudding flavors, including seasonal pumpkin, banana, butterscotch and lemon, in addition to an assortment of toppings like brownie pieces, homemade peanut brittle and lime angel food cake.  

I sampled the pumpkin, and thought it tasted exactly like spiced up pumpkin puree, so I went for one of their signature concoctions - banana cream dream, because basically I dream of banana cream (I'm just a simple girl, y'know?).  

The small cup will run you $4, and it's a phenomenally tiny ol' thing, but will satiate your sweet tooth enough for the two minutes it will take you to finish it.

This one had layers of banana pudding, banana cake, and crushed graham crackers. It was good, but I just wasn't that impressed.

Around the corner is my forever love, Big Gay Ice Cream Shop, which debuted its pumpkin soft serve flavor last week, so naturally, I had to have it.

I'm sure the pumpkin soft serve would taste good in any shape or form, but the Bea Arthur is a worthy presentation fit for that flavor.

The soft-serve was creamy, lightly spiced with lovely notes of pumpkin...taken in full with the crushed Nilla Wafers and generous drizzles of dulce de leche...you can just forgetaboutit.  A total fall slam dunk !

Han's Nonsensical Rating: It's too hard not to eat a variety of things on your stroll in the East Village, so it's best to just unbuckle those pants, gear up for the winter weather and eat your heart out in this beloved neighborhood! 

Xe May

96 Saint Marks Place, New York, NY 10009

Puddin'

102 Saint Marks Place  New York, NY 10009

Big Gay Ice Cream Shop

125 E 7th St, New York, NY

What You Can Eat in New Orleans !

I've promised more New York, but I have to write a quick post about one of Diana and my favorite food cities in the nation, New Orleans !

No trip is complete without a trip to Cafe du Monde, of course, conveniently open 24 hours a day, where the service is always sketchy at best, but the beignets are served hot, dusted with powdered sugar like freshly fallen snow, and where the cafe au lait washes it all down mighty fine.

Our original visit to Carrie years ago included a trip to Surrey's, a colorful little cafe with Day of the Dead inspired artwork adorning the walls and an assortment of freshly squeezed juices with options of wheatgrass and kale shots.  Much as I remembered from before, the sweet dishes far outshone the savory ones; in particular, it is the banana french toast that continues to haunt my dreams.

Made with the the city's ubiquitous french bread, filled with brown-sugar-laced banana puree, seared and finished off with a ridiculous rum sauce, this decadent dish is best shared.

The special of the day, a lump crab omelet with brie and avocado, just tasted off (metallic?), despite a thick, generous helping of crabmeat, which is always appreciated by my seafood loving self.

In my hot and heavy pursuit of the best fried chicken in New York, and across the nation, my heart will always go aflutter for Willie Mae's, so no visit to New Orleans is complete without a stop at this southern institution.

A $2 plate of cornbread is a must; the order comes with two plain muffins and a couple of squares of margarine.  So old school, dudes.

The cornbread is sweet, moist, and soaks the partially hydrogenated oils perfectly.

The plates of fried chicken can come as orders of dark or white meat, and we all know what's most delicious.  My plate of thighs, drumsticks and fries were a fried beauty to behold !

The clear differentiator of Willie Mae's fried chicken, among all other fried chickens, is their thick, crispy tempura shell, fried to a deep, deep golden brown.

While the shell is fairly oily, it is crunchy to the core, and seasoned with cajun spice.  The meat is, without question, moist and flavorful.  Altogether, it is just a brilliant plate of amazing, deep-fried Southern happiness.

(The only thing I would recommend is to get another side than fries alongside your chicken.  Our fries were heavily salted and hard to eat.  A side of red beans and rice might've made a better pairing.)

Carrie's #1 favorite spot in New Orleans during her residency here was Creole Creamery, so I paid the ice cream shoppe a visit on her behalf.  This is what real friends do for each other !

A $4 mini sampler, featuring 4 'mini scoops', gave me a nice taste of their flavors including chocolate peanut butter, coconut, salted caramel and mint chip.  The ice cream is tasty, rich and thick, putting the creamy in creamery.

A dinner at Commander's Palace brought back memories of Diana's historic feats of polishing off 8 pieces of their amazing garlic french bread before dinner arrived, . but I was only able to polish off six glorious pieces of this bread myself.  If I was a chipmunk, I woulda left the restaurant with cheeks filled with this heavenly breadstuff.

A bowl of turtle soup brought up conflicting thoughts about my love for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but was hearty, flavorful, and hit the comfort spot on the bullseye.

The pecan-crusted gulf fish, topped with blue crab meat, was plated with this unbelievable golden sauce, light and sweet, tasting of fresh summer corn.  An unusual but unbelievable flavor combination with the gulf fish.

And as with any classic dining establishment, leftovers are exquisitely wrapped up in aluminum foil.  Commander's Palace remains an ideal dining destination for anyone visiting the area looking for a bit of traditional Southern hospitality.

If you are looking to walk off your beignets from Cafe du Monde, walk your way to the French Market, a bustling, open-air market filled with snacks, cajun spices, countertop restaurants, freshly shucked oysters and these amazing fruit smoothies.  

For a light, quick snack, vegetarians and seafood eaters alike can converge at Meals from the Heart.  They boast of their crab cakes, with a trademark name of "crab cake passion," but the real star here is their tilapia poboy.

Thick filets of fresh fish, lightly seasoned with cajun spice (of course) make for a light refreshing lunch during hot, humid times of classic New Orleans summer.

The crab cake passion, with poached egg, is a fine plate, but the crab cakes are stringy instead of lumpy with more breading than I would typically prefer.

We were in town for the Satchmo Summerfest, a free jazz festival held in the French Quarter celebrating the great Louis Armstrong.  I was incredibly impressed with how well the festival was run, with stages under large white tents that somehow masked the unbearable summer, and allowed us to focus on the beautiful sounds of brass.

Because the festival is free, it's encouraged for eventgoers to eat at the food stations at the festival, so that was the least we could do !

We had not one, but three cups of New Orleans snoballs from Plum Street Snoballs.  The best flavors were cream-based, sweet and light.

I had a bowl of lemongrass chicken over vermicelli noodles from Amy's Vietnamese, and though the chicken lacked much flavor, the light fish sauced dressing just made the fresh, crisp dish perfect for outdoor fare.

My boss gave a recommendation for The Camellia Grill, citing the best omelets ever.  It's a bold statement, I know.  We stopped into the location in the French Quarter, which had a winding counter for every customer to have a front-row seat to the action.

I ordered an orange freeze with my breakfast, which is basically an icy shake made with orange concentrate and ice cream.  Totally breakfast appropriate.

However, the fun ended there. The omelets were flat and lusterless.  The hashbrowns greasy and limp.  This was one plate of breakfast sadness.

So we fixed matters with a short lunch later at Coop's Place, a dingy bar with friendly staff and plates of cajun-spiced fried chicken.

The crisp batter was more traditional, but with the dusting of cajun love, irresistible.

The fried oysters were too heavily battered to be enjoyed, but hell, I'll never turn down a plate of oyster anything.

The last thing I ate in New Orleans before hopping the plane back to New York was this pineapple cilantro popsicle from Meltdown - so tart and refreshing, but had me pining more for richer flavors, like Vietnamese coffee and salted caramel.  Some other time !

And that's a quick run-through of N'awlins!

Smell you later !
-h

Cafe du Monde
800 Decatur St New Orleans, LA 70116

Willie Mae's Scotch House
2401 Saint Ann Street New Orleans, LA 70119

Creole Creamery
4924 Prytania Street New Orleans, LA 70115

Meals from the Heart
1100 N Peters St New Orleans, LA 70116

Plum Street Snoballs
1300 Burdette St, New Orleans, LA

Amy's Vietnamese
1235 N. Peters St., New Orleans, LA

The Camellia Grill
540 Chartres Street New Orleans, LA 70130

Coop's Place
1109 Decatur Street  New Orleans, LA 70116

Meltdown
508 Dumaine Street  New Orleans, LA 70116

A Lovely Dinner at Il Buco

Long has my appetite lusted for the supposed short rib splendor that lay behind the wooden doors of Il Buco Alimentari, so with Anne, Ish and Mr. FoodandPants in tow, we paid the cute, bustling spot a visit to verify the rumors.

We whet our palates with their ricotta appetizer, housemade ricotta topped with shaved porcini mushrooms, hazelnuts and mint.

Anne became more obsessed with this dish than anyone at the table, with good reason, as the cracked black pepper and healthy drizzle of olive oil melded nicely with the fresh, creamy ricotta.

We shared a plate of spit-roasted duck, plated with charred onions, dates and shaved tokyo turnip.

The duck was very lean, with a thin, soft skin, and the flesh was tender and moist throughout.  The flavors were subtle, letting the simple succulence of the duck shine.

We also sampled a plate of the bucatini cacio e pepe, pasta simply dressed with shavings of pecorino Romano and black pepper.  The noodles were perfectly al dente.

And then, quite inexplicably, my camera lost all dozen photos I took of the short rib ! It's as if the short rib will remain ever so elusive, patiently awaiting your future visit.

It is worth the visit also - the short rib is served off a giant Flintstone shaped bone, ridiculously tender, with a gorgeously thick layer of black peppercorn that I could not get enough of - I may just be finding myself returning for lunch, where the short rib is served in a sandwich.  We'll see if my camera will be able to behold that maddeningly meaty beauty then !

Han's Nonsensical Rating: Shawwwtyy, it's your birthday, you gotta eat that short rib like it's your birthday !

Il Buco Alimentari & Vineria
53 Great Jones Street  Manhattan, NY 10012
Note: They take reservations, but very loosely (i.e., seating times will vary from the reservation you make).

Texas State Fair 2012 ! A Fun-Fried Assortment from America's Finest Fair!

Okay, I will get back to New York food soon, but I just have got to get this post up, because an annual homage is due to the best state fair in all the nation -

The State Fair of Texas !

I will bribe you to read further with this adorable photo of my nephew eating free nachos courtesy of Texas Dairy Association in the Food & Fiber Pavilion.  (Note how he is rockin' his New York pride !)

I brought my four nieces and nephew to the State Fair where they were super troopers in eating just about everything including:

Fried s'mores !

My oldest niece happily holding the fried s'mores !  These were melty marshmallow goodness, sickeningly sweet, but fun.

Fried cookie dough, which is year after year every kid's favorite. Gooey, decadent, hot and delicious.

Fried jambalaya, this year's fried food winner.  The serving size was exceptionally disappointing, as you can see below, but the flavor was on point - a thin, crisp shell with moist rice and chunks of sausage and indiscernible meat on the inside.  

Fried lemonade, which always remains my favorite, filled with fluffy, airy doughnuts glazed with tart lemon goodness.  My nephew said this looked too disgusting for him to eat though.  Don't be fooled by his cuteness.  That kid is a bonafide punk.

So we got fried Oreos to appease his disgust for the fried lemonade.

Later, we balanced the sweet with a serving of fried mac 'n cheese sliders, which is probably the best bang for the buck at the fair.  Two tall sliders featuring a beef patty topped by a puck of fried mac and cheese and a side of fries for $7. 

We were lucky enough to get these freshly made, and the fried mac 'n cheese was perfect.  The cheese was just oozin' for a bruisin' in my mouth ! (Does that make sense?)

Then I let my niece eat all of this fried bacon cinnamon roll by herself for dinner (I am going to make such a good parent !).  This dish won most creative this year.  Although creative, my niece and all her 11 years of eating wisdom said this was not as good as she had hoped, but it was fine.  She later polished off my nephew's corn dog for him.  She is going to take over this food blog one day, I know it !

And that is the food from the State Fair of Texas 2012 !  (See Diana and my post from last year for other fine treats like fried frito pie !)

'Till next year !  Yeehaw !!
-h